The Phoenix Suns had their hearts broken in Mexico City, when the lost an overtime thriller to the San Antonio Spurs. Good for neutral Mexico basketball fans, bad for the Suns.
I was all set up to write how apropos it was for the only Spanish-speaking player on the court to hit the game-winning 3 pointer for the Phoenix Suns after Ricky Rubio nailed a deep ball in LaMarcus Aldridge’s eye and the Spurs had to play the foul game with less than 10 seconds to go.
Then, the unthinkable happened.
First, Cam Johnson forgot how to inbound the ball. Then Lamar DeRozen made a prayer and-one to tie the game, but he missed the free throw, so it remained tied. During the scrum for the rebound, the ball pin-balled off multiple players’ hands, knees, and ultimately (although questionably) Mikal Bridges‘ head.
Enter Greg Popovich, who drew up a great out-of-bounds play and Patty Mills, who executed it well and hit a silky jumper to secure the unlikely four-point possession and rip the guts of the Phoenix Suns.
Just like literal gut excision would, this hurts. Monty Williams agrees:
"“You have to hurt in those situations, I think, to learn from them…I hope this hurts, and pain helps us mature.”"
I would argue that winning these kind of games is better than losing them, but I guess you have to twist matters positively where you can.
The Suns had a chance to go on a win streak and instead, lost back-to-back winnable games.
The ending wasn’t the only hurtful out-of-bounds call
The final rebound wasn’t the only controversial call. After a questionable out-of-bounds call where it appeared to go off LaMarcus Aldridge‘s fingertips yet was awarded to the Spurs, the Patty Mills hit a 3 which enraged everyone to the point it led to a technical foul. The end result was a 5-point possession and a six point lead.
It could have been enough to break a weaker team, but not the Valley Boyz. They fought back and sent the game to overtime after Kelly Oubre drilled a corner 3.
It would have been better if that 3 was to win it instead of sending it to OT, and that 5-point possession was a major reason why.
No Booker, big problem
Phoenix Suns’ superstar Devin Booker was a late scratch from the contest after suffering a forearm contusion in the previous game. Eddie Johnson made it sound like he wanted to play, but the team held him out for precautionary reasons.
Props to the team for hanging in there like they did after what looked like was going to be a game where they struggled to put up points. Ricky Rubio, especially turned it on in the point-production category, making a ton of big shots.
I’m convinced he should only shoot when the opposing team’s center is guarding him because it makes him actually put arc on his shot, which makes it often go in.
The Suns had a chance to win (and probably should have) but if a healthy Devin Booker is on the court, you have think this is one the Suns would have walked away with.
Dario Saric filled the stat sheet
When no one was looking, Dario Saric scored 19 points and an astonishing 17 rebounds. I watched the entire game and I could not tell you more than two of these boards came from. It felt like all he did was miss 3s and layups, but evidently I have some sort of ugly facial hair bias.
With no Ayton (who in my expert basketball analysis opinion, the Suns need back), rebound production is vital and Dario stepped up. Cheers to him.
Altitude Sickness
Early on, it looked like both teams just got finished a big plate of rice and beans and were ready for an afternoon siesta. The spry legs Suns fans have grown accustomed to watching looked heavy and lethargic. It led to poor shooting and not very many points.
Evidently, Cam Johnson was the only player to exchange his currency to pesos because no one else could buy a 3. Thankfully, he lent some of it to his buddies at half time who finally started finding the bottom of the net.
Part of the blame goes to the altitude. Even though the Suns held training camp at similar elevation in Flagstaff, when you’re not used to playing 7,000 feet, it catches up with you fast.
Okobo is the new backup point guard
Elie Okobo is up next on the great backup-point-guard merry-go-round. The Suns have cycled through all of their guards at some point this season, and against the Spurs, struggling rookie Ty Jerome hopped off and Okobo saddled up.
He held his own, putting up seven points, one assist, and one rebound, but posted a +/- of -10. Is it good enough to keep the role moving forward? For a couple games…yeah, probably.
In fact, the whole bench struggled, posted a combined -40 points. Not ideal.
Poor Baynes’ face
It is uncanny how much of a magnet Aron Baynes‘ face is to opponents’ elbows. The Australian superhero got drilled in the face with Lonnie Walker IV’s elbow on an erratic.
The contact busted Baynes’ lip, adding blood to his already intimidating look.
Baynes got called for the blocking foul on the play, but in the least surprising news ever, he returned to the game and powered home a few monster dunks and hit a crucial 3 in the closing minutes, not to mention two huge offensive rebound put-backs.
Tyler Johnson struggles continue
With Booker out, the Suns plugged in Tyler Johnson in for more minutes than normal. Considering he hasn’t played at all recently, that wasn’t very many.
Johnson finished with two points, one assist, and one rebound in 16 minutes of play.
This seems like a good point to remind you that he will make 365,990,625 pesos this year.
At one point in the 4th quarter, Baynes passed up on an open 3 to dish it to Johnson, who missed his 3. It is a strange world we live in when Suns fans are disappointed when Aron Baynes gives up a 3 to Tyler Johnson.
Another strange part in this world in which we dwell is this Phoenix Suns team is a playoff contender. Their grit and determination is still there. They still rank at the top of the league in assists per game. And they haven’t played one game with a full compliment of their roster.
Every win for the Suns right now is huge. That doesn’t mean every loss is devastating, but they didn’t want to dig themselves into a hole too big before Ayton comes back.
One more game against the Portland Trailblazers without him and then at least the excuse goes out the window.